Muscatine High School’s football team threw the first punch Friday night. Cedar Rapids Jefferson, specifically quarterback Vernon Benda, had a counter that was too much for MHS to withstand.
Benda passed for five touchdowns as Jefferson spoiled the home opener for Muscatine, 42-21, at Muscatine Community Stadium.
“The quarterback can sling it, and they obviously love to throw the ball,” MHS coach Mike Truitt said. “At the end of the day, we knew when they were going to throw, but they completed some amazing passes and their kids made some great catches.”
After a scoreless first quarter, the Muskies struck in the opening minutes of the second quarter when senior quarterback Gaige Curtis found junior James Roberts over the top for a 77-yard touchdown reception. Roberts exceeded 100 receiving yards in the opening half.
“That helped immensely,” Truitt said. “We have some guys that can catch, and Gaige is doing a good job as a quarterback throwing the ball. We’ll just keep developing that.”
Jefferson, though, pieced together three touchdowns in a 8-minute span to garner a 21-7 advantage at halftime.
Benda, in particular, had the MHS secondary on its heels most of the night.
“We try to make it simple, so our kids don’t have to think too much and can just play,” Truitt said. “That said, we’re still apprehensive (on defense). They don’t want to make a mistake, we slow down and things like that happen.”
MHS drew within a score, 21-14, early in the third quarter. Seth Reiland scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 6-yard run.
The backbreaker for the Muskies came later in the quarter.
With Jefferson faced with fourth and 11 from the Muskie 42-yard line, Benda completed a pass near the sideline. The receiver broke out of two tackles, escaped going out of bounds and darted to the end zone for a score.
Benda added a 24-yard touchdown throw later in the quarter to make it a three-score contest.
The Muskies had some good moments on offense, but Truitt admitted there were too many self-inflicted wounds and too many three-and-outs for his liking.
“I thought we did some good things, moved the ball at times, but then we wouldn’t block anybody up front or we would have a penalty,” Truitt said.
Muscatine is on the road next Friday to play old Mississippi Athletic Conference rival Davenport Assumption (0-2) before returning home in two weeks for Homecoming against Dubuque Senior. It’ll be the first meeting between MHS and Assumption since 2013.
Afterward, Truitt emphasized the importance of his squad sticking together.
“We’re only two weeks in,” he said. “We can’t get frustrated at oh-and-two and decide to do our own thing. If we do that, it is going to be a long, long seven weeks. We tell them to trust the process we’re going to give to them and we’ll get better next week.
“We were better tonight than last week. We’ll be better at Assumption than tonight. That’s all I can preach at this point.”
By Matt Coss, MCSD Director of Communications
